Ducks and Such Things
by Stephane Richer
Summary: Atsushi frowns, bored of messing with the ducks for now, and snakes an arm around Shintarou's waist (he can't lean back into the bench fast enough, and the gaps in the slats are wide enough for Atsushi's arm to fit through anyway).


Ducks and Such Things

Disclaimer: Don't own.

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Atsushi sits on a bench on the esplanade and throws bread at the ducks' heads, laughing when he pegs them and the wobble and almost fall in. The shots form an arc gracefully in the air, and Shintarou takes the bait eventually, resisting and scolding at first (feeding the birds is bad; you're not supposed to do it; don't hit them, Atsushi, they're just birds so there's no need to be that cruel) but finally giving in and tossing pieces of bread in higher, neater, more uniform arcs, managing to hit one on the side of the head and then the wing on his first two tries. He's about to take a third shot when Atsushi's mouth covers his hand and steals the shitty convenience store mass-produced bread from his hand and leaves Shintarou flaming red. He angrily wipes his hand on his jeans, grateful for their dark colour so the spit stain isn't that noticeable. Atsushi frowns, bored of messing with the ducks for now, and snakes an arm around Shintarou's waist (he can't lean back into the bench fast enough, and the gaps in the slats are wide enough for Atsushi's arm to fit through anyway). He pinches at Shintarou's hip, reaching under his shirt while Shintarou desperately tries to pry his fingers away (his hands are no match, though; resistance is futile) and then swings his other arm around Shintarou's body so that his hands make a circle and Shintarou is trapped inside. Shintarou huffs, but his fingers relax on top of Atsushi's hands and he leans back against Atsushi's arm.

The first day they were here, he argued (as he always did) that they shouldn't do things like this in public because people will stare at them and give them a hard time, but this is a college town. There are stranger sights than two tall guys with technicolour hair cuddling on a park bench. Atsushi whined and held Shintarou's hand anyway (which usually happened) and proved Shintarou wrong, smiling more and more broadly as more and more people looked past them. Besides, Shintarou likes this. He's proudly in denial, but he likes it, breath hitching and stoic expression faltering whenever Atsushi removes his hand for whatever reason, even if it's just for a couple of seconds. Atsushi finds it quite endearing.

The whole reason they're in Boston is some international medical conference at a local university, although the amount of conversation about medicine has apparently been minimal so far. Mostly it's socializing and free time, but the trip was funded by Shintarou's hospital and he's been networking quite well with other doctors. Atsushi, meanwhile, is getting more than his fill of shitty American daytime television and sleep. Still, it's nice to get away from the pastry shop for a while. He bakes cakes and decorates them and eats them all day, and he comes home and sometimes dreams about them. Even he might get sick of cakes one day, a possibility that scares him (he will have to eat twice as many donuts and three times as much pocky and five times as much umaibou and so many potato chips, because cake is quite central to his diet.

The cakes in Boston are quite good, but not as good as his (something that even Shintarou, who pretends to hate all sweets on principle, agrees with him on). The donuts are overhyped. It's hard to find any pocky besides strawberry, but that's his favourite flavour anyway, and the chips are cheap and there are so many different kinds he wonders if he'll have time to try them all in a week. Nevertheless, he buys them all when they go to the convenience store, something that Shintarou protests because he only came to get toothpaste and a can of ravioli (his lucky item).

Atsushi leans his head on Shintarou's shoulder. It's chillier than they thought it would be, it being April and April being full-fledged spring already, but Shintarou in his jeans and sweater and Atsushi in his pants and flannel shirt both feel the chill. It's more like late autumn than the middle of spring, honestly. At least it's sunny out.

"Hey, Shi-chin..."

"Mm?"

"I'm hungry..."

Shintarou shoves the bag of bread into his lap and Atsushi removes one arm from around Shintarou waist to remove a slice and put it in his mouth. It's terribly boring and tasteless all by itself (why hadn't he brought more chips with him on this walk? Oh, right, they take up so much room.) but it will have to do. A brazen squirrel creeps up near Atsushi's leg to beg for bread. Atsushi sends a kick in the squirrel's direction and it darts off to the safety of a nearby tree.

"Hey, Shi-chin, what kind of tree is that?"

Shintarou's head is filled with all kinds of knowledge that he'll never really have much use for other than impressing people with how much he knows, and some of that knowledge pertains to trees. He loves talking about the trees and when they shed their leaves and what colour of blossoms they have and all the intricate details of the flowers. This one is in full bloom, white petals drifting off and occasionally onto the bench on which Shintarou and Atsushi sit. The information is going in one ear and out the other, but really it's so nice to see Shintarou talk about something he's confident that he knows about.

There's a silly smile plastered to Atsushi's face as Shintarou finishes his explanation calmly. Atsushi's arms tighten around his body. Shintarou looks so pleased with himself, and it's just so fucking cute so Atsushi kisses him on the jaw, pressing his entire mouth onto Shintarou's skin so that Shintarou can feel his lips curving into a larger smile still.

"Hey," Shintarou says, in an attempt to sound mad. "Did you even listen to a word I said?"

Atsushi closes his eyes and lets his head drop so that it's leaning on Shintarou's shoulder again.

"Goddamn it, Atsushi, don't fall asleep. You just took a nap."

Shintarou never learns. The more he protests, the more Atsushi just keeps doing what he's doing. Atsushi thought he might be learning (finally) when he stopped badgering Atsushi about doing the laundry and cleaning the kitchen and started doing it himself without complaint, which made Atsushi feel a little guilty, so he started occasionally helping out. He knew Shintarou was manipulating him the whole time, but somehow Shintarou never catches on to Atsushi. Or maybe he caught on long ago, but he just likes to complain (somehow Atsushi will never rule out the latter).

"Shi-chin, buy me some more chips," Atsushi mumbles into Shintarou's shoulder.


End file.
